This invention relates to head protection and in particular to an improved sports helmet having an externally cushioned facade providing improved impact protection at a reduced weight.
The potential for an individual suffering a head injury while participating in a sporting activity depends upon the type of sport as well as the skill of its participants. High impact sports necessitate the use of the headwear, however, head injuries still occur despite participant skill. Headwear protection must also be capable of withstanding repeated impacts without imparting injury to the individual.
Headwear designed to protect an individual""s head from injury is commonly referred to as a helmet. Proper helmet construction cannot be emphasized enough when used in such sports as football. in fact, it is a requirement that high school, college, and professional football players wear a helmet during play. Conventional football helmets include a hard outer casing which encompasses padding as placed against the user""s head. As a result, when the user""s head impacts a hard object the energy is absorbed and displaced by the padding as it compresses against and between the user""s head and the outer casing. However, despite the mandated requirement for helmet use and construction, head injuries are now occurring in notable numbers.
For this reason, numerous helmet manufacturers have patented various helmet designs and materials of construction in an effort to reduce head injury. U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,242 discloses a helmet manufacturing process which consists of textile reinforcement for the use of an impact resistant resin structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,009 discloses a protective helmet and liner which consists of a force absorbing pad structure disposed upon the interior liner of a conventional helmet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,203 discloses an inflatable liner that is placed within the inner surface of a helmet and allows an individual to inflate the liner to meet the individual""s requirements. U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,562 discloses a helmet construction having an interior padding and associated neckbrace for protection of the individual""s head and cervical spine against axial impact forces. The common element in all such helmets is that the outer skeletal shell is constructed of an impact resistant hard plastic shell which operates as an offensive weapon should the individual wearing such a helmet impact another person""s body at any portion where the body is unprotected. For instance, should an individual wearing one of the above helmets run into a person""s knee the rigid shell may cause irreparable damage as it is uncommon for an individual to wear knee protection. However, should an individual be wearing the protection in the form of foam padding such an impact may be reduced or even eliminated.
In an effort to reduce head injuries, various protection groups are established for evaluating the safety of helmets and related accessories. The most notable is the nonprofit group National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, NOCSAE. The members of NOCSAE include the American College Health Association, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Athletic Equipment Managers"" Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners"" Association, National Athletic Trainers Association, National High School Athletic Coaches Association, Sporting Goods Manufacturers"" Association and the College Football Association. NOCSAE was formed in 1969 in response to the need for a performance test standard for football helmets. Since then, standards have been developed for football, baseball, softball and lacrosse, with additional standards for other equipment currently being evaluated.
Since the 1960""s media technology has increased coverage to bring about a greater exposure to sports. This in turn caused athletes to become involved at a younger age where they trained to perform more aggressively with goals such as athletic scholarships or lucrative professional contracts after college. Unfortunately, with the increased attention and involvement, serious injuries also became more prevalent. This was particularly evident in the sport of football where there were 32 fatalities in 1968 directly due to participation in organized competition, plus 4 more fatalities resulting from sandlot play.
Several problems confronted the NOCSAE, and other advocates, in their attempt to reduce football injuries. One of the problems in reducing injuries was the increased use of the head as the initial point of contact in blocking and tackling. It is a continuing concern that any improvements to equipment might lead to more and harder hits involving the head and the helmet. In other words, a competitive playerxe2x80x94when given a helmet offering more internal protection for himselfxe2x80x94might be more inclined to hit his opponent harder with this helmet. Safer internal padding results in a potentially more violent weapon in the hands of the user, particularly because of the hard outer casing being applied now with an even greater force.
While a downturn in head injury fatalities has been observed over the years due to the use of helmets, death and disabilities still continue to occur. The rule makers f or football (e.g. the NCAA and NFL) have recognized that the helmet and face mask combination now play a dual role: while it reduced serious injuries, it has invited the use of the head as an offensive weapon. In 1976, rule-making committees were responsible for initiating changes which prohibited initial contact of the head in blocking and tackling (e.g. no xe2x80x9cspearingxe2x80x9d rules). While these rules have helped to reduce injuries, a rule in itself cannot prevent injury and/or maiming of a player. Such a rule can only invoke a yardage penalty, a fine, or at worst a suspension of a player. The injury and associated damage, however, will have still occurred to the victim player.
In response, groups such as the NOCSAE, NCAA, and NFL have also encouraged the application of warning labels on helmets and other equipment which warn the user of the potential dangers involved with playing a certain sport. Moreover, extra training regarding injury free methods of carrying the ball, blocking, and tackling have also been practiced. Together, such efforts to educate the players and coaches can only go so far to prevent injuries. If a piece of equipment, such as the helmet and/or face mask, continue to present a hard and injurious surface, then the injuries will invariably continue to occur as this surface is naturally brought into contact with other helmets, attached necks, and fragile body parts. Other contact sports such as hockey, lacrosse, and baseball will also continue to sustain such injuries under the present state of the equipment for similar reasons mentioned above.
Accordingly, a helmet is needed which provides superior comfort, padding, and weight advantages for the user, while simultaneously offering more resilient external surfaces for contact with opposing objects. This resilient external surface will, in itself, absorb energy and yet offer a softer impact surface. Hence, all players are protected from injurious impacts through the use of such equipment.
The present invention teaches an improved sports helmet which incorporates a unique energy absorbent material secured to the outer surface of a rigid shell. A face mask can also be utilized that incorporates the energy absorbent material for either coating of the mask or limiting movement of the mask. The shell and material coating provides for a helmet that can be less than half the weight of a solid plastic shell helmet.
The helmet can be made of a conventional shape for its desired application such as football, lacrosse, and hockey. The energy absorbent material is preferably a memory rubber such as vinyl nitrile sponge (VNS) being a combination of thermoplastic poly vinyl chloride and synthetic elastomer nitrile. The VNS covering can be further coated providing abrasion resistance and allowing for cosmetic effects. In this manner, the size and shape of the helmet can remain the same. Coloring of the material maintains an appearance identical to conventional helmet design.
An alternative to the interlocking pieces of energy absorbent material is an injection molding process having a proprietary flexible polyurethane foam that provides a helmet of uniform consistency. The injection process requires the placement of a flexible polycarbonate shell within a split mold in such a manner to allow the foam material to cure around each side of the shell wherein a the padding is evenly distributed on each side surface of the liner.
The helmet construction involves the placement of a speciality shaped flexible liner having an inner form-fitting surface to be first positioned over a rigid head-shaped base. The rigid base supports the liner during the injection molding process in one plane with the split mold housing having provisions for holding the liner from moving when the split mold is closed. The proper spacing of the liner to the mold is made possible by use of spacing posts which extend from the outer surface of the liner a predetermined distance causing a spacial distance between the shell and liner. It is noted that the liner is designed to remain flexible for insertion and removal purposes. The base, liner, and split mold are reusable.
In production, the base, liner, and polycarbonate shell are placed as a unit into the preformed split mold housing. The internal cavity of the split mold is contoured to follow the outer shape of a desired protective helmet. After insertion, the liner is stabilized into a fixed position by use of positioning rods which are inserted through the exterior walls of the mold. The rods extend through the rigid shell and flexible liner to abut the head-shaped support base. The positioning rods ensure that, during the molding process, the liner and rigid shell remain in a desired orientation within the internal cavity of the mold.
A predetermined amount of polyurethane is then injected into the mold to fill the area bounded by the liner and the interior cavity of the mold. The spacing posts that separate the shell from the liner allow the injected polyurethane to flow around each side surface of the shell. The rigid shell is perforated allowing the polyurethane to pass through the shell to provide an inseparable attachment between the inner and outer surfaces.
Once the polyurethane is cured, the split mold is opened and the base, liner, and newly-formed helmet are removed, collectively, from the mold. The liner and helmet are then simultaneously separated from the rigid base. The liner is then peeled out from within the interior of helmet. As with the first embodiment the finished helmet effectively cushions impacts both inside and outside the helmet and exceeds all current safety standards for helmet manufacturing.
The outer surface of the helmet is preferably coated with a Teflon coating which provides a high gloss smooth finish as well as provides a slick surface that inhibits rotational acceleration should the helmet impact another surface.
The energy absorbing properties of the helmet provide protection to the wearer and further operate to reduce the impact ability of the helmet when contacting another object. In this manner if a helmet wearing participant struck an unprotected area of another player, the helmet provides a level of protection in the form of padding to both players. For instance, if a football player wearing a padded helmet strikes the unprotected knee of another player, the material will absorb a portion of the shock lessening damage to the knee. This energy absorbing properties is doubled when two players butt heads as each player having the coating helps to absorb the impact.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a helmet with a soft, energy absorbent covering on its outer surfaces.
Still another objective of the present invention to provide a helmet that is lighter and safer than the football helmets currently employed.
It is a related objective of the present invention to provide a layered protection scheme for a user""s head which includes a hard helmet shell with a layer of soft, energy absorbent covering on its inner and outer surface.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide a face mask for a helmet which incorporates soft, energy absorbent material along its outer surfaces.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a helmet with a soft, energy absorbent material molded entirely around the inner and outer surfaces of a hard helmet shell.
It is a related objective of the present invention to provide a helmet with a soft, energy absorbent material molded around an inner web of structural support material.
It is also an objective of the instant invention to disclose a process of manufacturing a padded helmet having a soft, energy absorbing covering on its outer and inner surfaces with a rigid shell formed integral therebetween.
Another objective of the instant invention is to disclose a helmet that can be inexpensively produced in mass quantity providing an affordable helmet for use by the general public.
Yet still another objective of the instant invention is to disclose a helmet that is has a malleable surface which can be coated with an impact resistant coating that will prevent rotational acceleration by providing a slick surface.
Other objectives and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objectives and features thereof.